Good Friday
John 18:1-19:42

Today’s story begins in a garden and ends in a garden. In the opening scene Jesus is betrayed in a place very familiar to him and his followers. They were always seen with him in his lifetime but at this moment when he needed them most, they fled. In the closing scene Jesus is laid to rest in another garden by two men who were afraid to be seen with him in his lifetime but now minister to him in his death. And in between the two gardens were seen the people who loved him, and the ones who betrayed him, the Roman official whose child was ill, the fearful followers and the curious onlookers, the temple officials and the chief priests, the crowd he fed when they were hungry, those he listened to when their hearts were heavy, the ones he healed in their brokenness, and those he raised from the dead.  Many of them had a personal experience of him; some of them dreamt of knowing him better and there were those who were still a bit skeptical. Where are we?